To the subcommittee as well as the oversight committee. We are delighted to have you. Lets see. Without objection i want to wave onto the subcommittee, stephen horseford from nevada who wanted to ask questions. By unanimous consent we grant that privilege. I want to thank witnesses for their ongoing cooperation, you and your staff have been truly excellent partners in this oversight process. Thank you for your work, i learned from my district staff, you toward Silver Spring in montgomery county, maryland, these are diverse high density areas with high concentration of immigrants where a variety of languages are spoken and i appreciate your coming out to take out our community, my district director kevin connor met with your staff and was encouraged by the bureaus preparation so i thank you and your staff for your hard work. We have a lot to accomplish before 2020. We were embroiled in a battle over the Citizenship Question. Now that the administration is forced to stand down, the effor
Distrust of the government im 35 of africanamericans and 32 of hispanics are very concerned about the census being used against them. Similarly, 39 of people who are not English Proficient and 34 of those born outside the u. S. Are afraid to respond. So theres a lot of fear in our communities that weve got to strive to overcome. The president s executive order and immigration policies and the threatened raids all strike fear in the hearts of many of the communities that are already mistrustful of government. And even though the question will not be on the 2020 census. There is a test in the field right now where 240,000 families are being asked the Citizenship Question. Why is that . This decision to pose the Citizenship Question to hundreds of thousands of people after the Supreme Court rejected it seems hard to reconcile with the reality of the Supreme Court decision and the unbroken defeat of the question in the lower district courts. So now we face the threat of prolonged confusion
Estimate of cost of 2020 census which does not conform best practices. Quality cost estimates can help an agency manage complex activities as well as help Congress Make funding decisions and provide sufficient oversight however, cost estimate only partially met characteristics of best practice and min malely met other best practices well documented incredible. Bureau has not public released update to 2015 cost estimate yet several events since then including changes requirements and procedures, the life cycle cost would be substantially higher than original estimate of 12. 5 billion. The bureaus preparation for 2020 have been further complicated by ongoing vacancies in the positions of census director and Deputy Director. Active leadership has since been named, turnover makes it difficult to ensure accountability and continuity as well as to mitigate risks and control costs over the long term. This concludes my prepared remarks, i will turn it over to my colleague who will discuss the
The committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Secretary ross is with us. Hell be joining us momentarily. I recognize myself for an Opening Statement, and then my friend from maryland. The census is constitutionally required. It is what ensures that every vote should be counted, every person should be counted. This is a Condition Precedent for accurate redistricting and accurate reapportionment. The census is not only important for purposes of constituting our government, its also important for apportioning the resources and service of our government. So the census is vitally important for a number of reasons. It is also imminently predictable. There are a few things that can foreseen, quite like the census. It happens every ten years, whether youre ready or not. So its incredibly important, beginning with the fundamental truth of counting every one of our fellow citizens. We know well in advance that its coming. So we cant
Public service by americas Cable Television companies. And is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Next, commerce secretary wilbur ross on efforts to modernize operations of the u. S. Census bureau ahead of the 2020 census. Secretary ross outlined Information Technology investments at his agency and answered questions on reaching out to traditionally underrepresented communities while controlling costs. This House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is 2 two hours and 50 minutes. The committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Secretary ross is with us. Hell be joining us momentarily. I recognize myself for an Opening Statement, and then my friend from maryland. The census is constitutionally required. It is what ensures that every vote should be counted, every person should be counted. This is a Condition Precedent for accurate redistricting and accurate reapportionment. The census is not only imp